Feed mechanism for grinding-m ills



4 D (No Model.) 5

E C. CLARK & A. DEWEY.

FEED MECHANISM FOR GRINDING MILLS.

No. 291,031. Patented Jan. 1, 1884.

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UN TED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

FEED MECHANISM FOR GRlNDlNG-MiLLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed August 30,1883.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, E. O. CLARK and AL- VAH DEWEY, of Gannelton, in the county of Perry and State of Indiana, have invented certain Improvements in Feed Mechanism for Grinding-Mills, of which the following is a specification. I Our invention relates to an automatic feedcontrolling mechanism for roller-mills, wherein the weight of the grain or other material in the feed-hopper is applied, through intermediate devices, to open the feed-gate, which latter is automatically closed when the supply of grain is exhausted.

The invention consists in the peculiar com bination and arrangement of parts hereinaftcr explained in detail and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a double grinding-mill provided with our improvements, one side of the mill being represented in vertical section through the center. Fig. 2 represents an end elevation.

It is to be understood that while we have represented in the drawings a double mill, or mill containing two pair of rolls, the invention may be applied with equal facility to those mills which contain but a single pair of rolls, the feed mechanism being applied to each pair independently.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the frame or body of the mill; B B, the grinding-rolls, arranged in pairs; 0, the feed-rolls, arranged one above each pair of grindingrolls, and D D two hoppers arranged above the feed-rolls, each hopper having a narrow throat or outlet extending lengthwise above the surface of the feed-roll, for the purpose of delivering grain or other material thereon. The foregoing parts may be constructed in any ordinary or approved manner, our invention having no special reference thereto.

In applying our improvement, we place in the bottom of each hopper a board, E, hinging the same at the point a in such manner that its freeedge, being the one nearest the outlet-throat, may rise and fall. To the free edge of this board we secure a flexible sheet, F, which is preferably crimped in a zigzag form, after the manner of a bellows-body, and

Patent No. 291,031, dated January 1, 1884.

(No model.)

secure its lower edge to the bottom of the hopper, this sheet serving to prevent the ma terial from passing beneath the board E, leaving the board, consequently, free to rise and fall at all times. I

For the purpose of controlling the discharge of a the material through the throat of the hopper, we provide the latter with a vertically-sliding gate. G, having on its outer side a stud or pin, which is extended through a narrow slit, 7), to the outside of the hopper, and there connected with a verticallysliding plate, 0, secured in suitable guides, this arrangement permitting the gate to rise and fall.

From the upper edge of the gate, or its guiding-strip c, we connect one end of a lever, H, pivoted centrally to a fixed support, and connect its opposite end by a cord or link, I, to the free edge of the board, the result of this arrangement being that whenever the hopper contains a supply of grain the board E will be depressed thereby, and the lever caused tohold the feed-gate in an open position, so that the material may pass with freedom through the throat to the rolls. When, however,the hopper becomes empty, or the supply of grain is diminished, the board, relieved from the weight of the grain, permits the gate on the outside to descend. A fiat spring, 70, secured at one end'firinly to the exterior of the case. bears at its upper end on the sliding plate 0 of the gate.

For the purpose of changing the tension of the spring, a threaded rod, L, is connected centrally thereto and extended downward through a fixed arm, M, and provided with plied through pipes N, entering the top of the hopper in the ordinary manner.

We are aware that feed devices operated by the weight of the grain have been coumo an adjusting-nut, N, on the lower end. By

strncted in a variety of forms, and we thercgate, the external spring, and the adjustingfoi'e lay no broad elaiin thereto. screw combined with said sprin Havingihns described our invention, what ELUAH CURTIS CLARK e chum \L'VAH DFWFY In a feed-controlling mechanism, the hopi J J per and the hinged board in its bottom, eoni- \Yitnesses: bined with the sliding gate, the lever, link, JNO. T. PATRICK, and sliding plate connecting the board and \VM. HENNING. 

